Dotanba
by Jade Spiral
Summary: Sakura Haruno is living in an orphanage, soon to be kicked to the dangerous streets of her war-plagued country. Certain that only death could await her, she is surprised when she finds a boy with smoldering eyes instead.AU SASU/SAKU/ITA
1. Chapter 1:Dotanba

**Dotenba – **

A naruto fanfiction: AU sasu/saku/ita

Description: Sakura Haruno is living in an orphanage, soon to be kicked to the dangerous streets of her war-plagued country. Certain that only death could await her, she is surprised when she finds a boy with smoldering eyes instead.

Chapter One - Dotenba: plight

The war had been going on for some thirty years now. Not as long compared to previous wars, but it was definitely far worse than the others. It was between the East country and the West country. East country had been feeling rather mighty with their superior technology, while the West country had been rather content on keeping things simple and traditional. East country wanted to share its newfound ways with West country, therefore gaining some sort of control over the vaguely smaller country. West disagreed, and sent out troops to defend its borders. East was angered by West's blatant refusal, so they sent out their troops as well. Eventually, it became all out war.

Battle after battle and there was no end in sight. Small towns and large cities alike were burned to the ground. Parents lost their children, and children lost their parents. The army, desperate for new recruits, began enlisting males as young as ten years old. East country had the advantage, with their weapons far more catastrophic than West country's. It was obvious who would be victorious in this war, but despite that fact, the rulers of West country were stubborn in their ways and would not surrender.

It was utter chaos, to say the least. Various bands of rebels who did not agree with the war, joined together, hoping to bring eventual peace to both countries. It was a joke. Victims of the war had hoped the rebels would help bring an end, but they only made it worse. The rebels had tried to negotiate peace, but failed. The rebels then turned to fighting the armies. But with no real fighting experience, and warped thoughts, they had inadvertently caused even more death than needed.

Now the rebels were viewed as criminals, outlaws, and just common thugs. Most people, that had no home, no family to turn to, resorted to crime, prostitution, drugs, even going so far as to kill another for some scrap of food. The world was falling apart at the seams and there was no end in sight.

Children that were orphaned at a young age were sent to orphanages, but it was no sanctuary. Dirty, small, and often understaffed, orphanages were more of a death sentence then a chance at survival. Children were malnourished and abused. It was a hell hole, but it was better than the streets. Once children turned sixteen, they were kicked out. Overcrowding being the biggest problem, there just wasn't enough food. Once you were kicked out, you had three choices: try to survive on the streets (most likely involving drugs, murder, or prostitution), join the army (no chance at survival there), or join the rebels (If you didn't die fighting, then you would at least get fed).

This is where our story starts.

--

I stared at the old woman, in disbelief. Strands of pink hair covered my face; I tried to push them out of the way, only to have them fall back into their original place again. "What did you say?" my voice came out raspy.

"I'm sorry, Haruno-san. We just don't have the resources to keep you here anymore." Pity clouded the woman's eyes. She had raised me since I was four years old, and the only emotion she showed me was _pity?_

"Yukino-san, you know I won't survive out there, how could you do this to me?" I could feel the tears coming, so I held them back. "You know what the rules say, Haruno-san. Once you're sixteen, you can't stay here anymore. I know this is hard, but you're a strong girl, you'll make it." She put her wrinkled hand on my shoulder, I shrugged it away. Yukino-san had been like a grandmother to me, how could she expect me to make it out there on my own?

"I saved some bread for you. There isn't much, so make it last. I know of a place you can stay for awhile. My brother, he owns a café. Tell him you know me. He might give you a job. Here's the directions." She slipped me a small piece of paper and a brown bag (the bread). I looked at her, she must care after all. Jobs were rare to find, and Yukino-san had been able to get me one. I forgave her immediately as I embraced her heartedly.

"Thank you, Yukino-san!" This was probably the last time I would see the old woman. As I dropped the embrace I felt her hand on my shoulder once more, she stared me straight in the eyes.

"I want you to listen to me. When you're out there, never let your guard down, and especially, _don't trust anyone!_" the look in her stony grey eyes made me nervous. I nodded me head and she let go of me. "Oh! I almost forgot!"

Yukino-san took off a silver necklace around her neck and gave it to me. The metal felt cold in my hands. It was a locket, a small, square shaped locket. I tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. I looked up at Yukino-san, who had a strange expression on her face.

"You were wearing it when you first came here. I was afraid someone would steal it from you, so I kept it until this day. I hope you'll forgive me." I shook my head, smiling. "There is nothing to forgive. Thank you, for everything." I put on the necklace and hid it beneath my ragged shirt. I stepped out the door of the orphanage, gazing up at the clouded sky.

"Good luck, Haruno-san." And she waved at me. I waved back, certain that this was our last moment together. I turned toward the abysmal street, and began to make my way. With a job, I could survive; maybe someday get a place for myself. I finally had hope for my future. Once again I pushed my hair out of my eyes.

I should have known then that hope never lasts.

**A/N: **This is my first attempt of a naruto story, and I swear it will get so much better; I have a great epic story planned out. Please stick around to read it. And if you like this, despite how incredibly short it is, please please review. That is the only thing to keep me writing. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2:Unmei

Chapter 2 – Unmei: Destiny

**Chapter 2 – Unmei: Destiny**

I sighed in frustration. The directions Yukino-san had given me were a bit hard to decipher. The café her brother owned was three towns away. It would be a couple of days before I reached the small establishment, and that was only if I didn't get lost, which I somehow managed to get.

I was walking down a dirt road; on each side of me were burnt fields. One strategy soldiers used to hinder the opposing army was to get rid of their source of food, so now it was very rare to find an actual field of crops growing. I tucked a piece of pink hair behind my ear, wishing I had something to tie it with. I looked up at the sky, it was getting darker. It would start to rain soon, and I would need shelter.

I looked around my surroundings, hoping to find an abandoned barn or shed to stay in for the night, but I was disappointed. My feet were sore, I had been walking all day, so I decided to sit down and rest for a minute. I must look strange, sitting on the edge of some dusty road in the middle of nowhere. I laughed inwardly, thinking of my predicament.

I had no shelter, no water, no money, and was lost. Not to mention there was only a small bit of the bread Yukino-san had given me left over. I was royally screwed. Sitting with my legs crossed, I used my right leg to support my arm, which my head rested on. If I couldn't find some kind of shelter, I'd have to walk through the rain. If I walked through the rain I would surely catch a cold, if not a fever. Getting sick was the worst case scenario. Doctors were scarce, and if you did manage to find one, they were very expensive.

If I got sick, I would die. There was no doubt about it. No one would offer me their help, not in this world. It was every man for himself, and if you couldn't do anything to survive, you didn't last very long. That's what I hated most about this place. No one helped anyone but themselves. Even doctors, who were supposed to help and heal people, didn't lift a finger to help anyone who couldn't pay a hefty price.

I glanced up the road, and groaned in annoyance. If I wanted to find shelter before it began raining, I would have to get a move on. My muscles ached in protest as I began to stand up. I'm wondering how much longer my body will be able to put up with this. I started walking again when my stomach erupted in angry growls.

I reached into the small brown paper bag that stored what was left of my bread. It was a small piece, as big as my fist. I took a bit, and then shoved the bread back into the bag. I had to make it last, because if it didn't, I wouldn't. I had contemplated finding a rabbit or something to eat, but had pushed the idea aside knowing that I couldn't kill a damn thing, even if it meant survival. I couldn't kill anything; I'd sooner help an injured wolf than kill it for my own benefit.

The only thing I wanted in life was to become a doctor. I would be a doctor that would heal people who didn't have enough money to pay for one. That had been my only goal in life, but my hopes for that had been crushed when I was sent to the orphanage. It seems life didn't care much for my happiness. I had realized that when my parents died.

I mentally slapped myself. Now was not the time to think about things like that! I was going to survive, I was! I quickened my pace, as a new surge of energy filled me. I was not the type of person to wallow in self pity.

I heard a roll of thunder from behind me, and a distant sound of rain. Damn. Still looking ahead I spied a small dot on the horizon. As long as it was shelter it was good enough for me. I broke into a run. My body hated me for it, but I pushed forward. My hair whipped around behind me as I ran. A small thought of cutting it crossed my mind before I completely focused on reaching the shelter.

As I got closer it appeared to be a small house. If anybody inhabited it, I prayed they were somebody kind. My legs felt relief when I began to slow down. Approaching the home I noticed it was in shambles. The two windows in front were broken, and the porch stairs had collapsed. The house was old and grey; it seemed to match the weather.

Wearily, I pressed open the decrepit door, and surveyed the inside. It was barren, completely empty, and completely dark. I made my way in, and saw a lone chair in the back corner of the room.

As if it was heaven sent, I collapsed on it. I looked around the house one more time. The house was quiet. Devoid of any sign that anyone had been here. I smiled inwardly.

_Good job Sakura! You found a perfect shelter! _But victory was short lived, as I fell asleep with my head resting against my shoulder.

* * *

I woke to the sound of rain pounding against the roof of my temporary home. I looked out the window and saw that it was still night outside. _Looks like I'll be staying here a little longer_. I sighed, and stood up. Rain was leaking in through the holes in the roof, and I realized that I was thirsty.

I walked over to the nearest leak where the rain was dripping in and opened my mouth to catch it. The sweet liquid felt good on my parched throat. I was so focused on getting to drink; I barely noticed the voices outside the house.

Panic took over as I looked around to find some kind of weapon to defend my self from whoever was about to come through that door. I couldn't find anything, so in a last resort I grabbed the chair and quietly hid behind the door, ready to smash it over the head of the first person that came through. The voices were getting closer, and they sounded male. There were two of them, from the sound of it.

They were just behind the door now, and the doorknob began to jiggle. The door slowly creaked open. The first male walked in, not noticing me standing behind him.

"It looks empty." He said, and began to turn around. Surprise covered his face as I broke the chair over his head. He fell to the ground in a heap. His friend yelled and turned to me. Now that the chair was broken I only held the leg of the chair and held it to the stranger in front of me.

"Get out now!" I screamed, hoping to sound frightening. The man looked at me and then at his friend lying on the ground, then back to me. He held his arms up signaling he was no harm.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt, you okay? Just put the stick down. Please?" his voice didn't sound menacing, but I didn't relinquish my hold on the only weapon I had.

"Take your friend and leave!" my voice was shaking, much to my displeasure. The situation was bad. If his friend woke up, I'd be outnumbered.

"Please, we're tired, we've been traveling all day, we need a place to rest to get out of the rain, we won't hurt you." He pleaded. I lowered my makeshift weapon, but kept my suspicions. It was still dark, so I couldn't make out his features. Quickly assessing the situation, I retreated to my original corner, (now chairless) and sat down gazing intently at the newcomers.

"You can stay, but you stay in that corner far away from me. You understand?" as much as I wanted them gone, I couldn't force them back out into that rain, what if it was I was in their place? And I had just knocked his friend out with a chair…

"Okay, okay!" and he retreated to the far corner, pulling his dead weight friend along with him. He leaned up against the wall and looked at me. "What's your name?" he asked, trying to be friendly. He did sound oddly cheerful for this type of situation.

"It's none of your business." I know I was being rude, but I couldn't trust them, I couldn't trust anybody.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and my friend's name is Sasuke Uchiha." He didn't seem to mind at all that I knocked his friend out; in fact he seemed to think it was funny, seeing as he kept poking Sasuke's limp form.

Slightly put off by this new situation, I slackened my grip on the chair leg. Naruto must have noticed my movement, and thinking he had calmed me down somewhat, he asked me my name again.

"Haruno." I replied quietly. He didn't push for my first name so he must have been content with just my surname.

"So what brings you to this old house on a night like this, Haruno-chan?" I ignored the 'chan'. I wondered if he was usually this familiar to everyone he met. I didn't reply, hoping he would drop the conversation. Sasuke groaned on the floor, but he didn't wake up.

"Heh heh, you sure did a number on him, Haruno-chan. I've never been able to get a good hit on him as you did, Haruno-chan." He was laughing. I grimaced, this boy was weird, wasn't he mad I knocked out his friend? He mistook my grimace for concern.

"Don't worry about him though, he'll be fine. If you ask me, he needed a good hit in the head. We're headed towards Gretchen village. Sasuke-teme here has some kind of grudge against someone we heard was there." This Naruto seemed to talk too much, but before I could say anything, his friend started moving.

"Hey Sasuke-teme, glad to back in the world of the living?" Naruto didn't seem to notice the glare Sasuke gave him, but then his attention turned to me. Before I had time to react, I was lifted up by the collar of my tattered shirt. Naruto yelled at him to let me go, and I reached up to pry his arm off my shirt. The effort was futile; he was too strong for me. I was shaking with fear at this point. I had dropped my guard, thanks to naruto, and had let go of my weapon when I was lifted up.

"Why did you hit me with a chair?" he sounded so angry, much more fierce than his friend, who was, at the moment, trying to get Sasuke off me as well. He dropped his hold on me and I fell to the ground.

"What was I supposed to do? I was trying to protect myself!" I yelled, shrinking back into the corner. He eyed me strangely, and then looked back to naruto. "Let's go." He said to his friend as he walked towards the door.

"Teme! It's still raining out there, and you know we can't afford to get sick. Let's just stay here until it stops raining. And you should apologize to Haruno-chan!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke. Sasuke glared back at him but seemed to find sense in his words. Of course not the part of apologizing, because as he retreated to their corner he passed me a hateful glare.

I glared right back.

Naruto laughed sheepishly, trying to ease the tension. "Don't worry Haruno-chan, Sasuke-teme just has a bad attitude, he wouldn't actually hurt you." Sasuke scoffed behind him. I could honestly believe that he wouldn't wait a second to take revenge for the chair incident.

Naruto seemed to notice that the time for chat was over and went to sit with Sasuke, he was a little deflated that his attempt to from a new friendship and gone so awry. The next couple hours flew by in silence. My eyes were starting to droop from exhaustion. Knowing that falling asleep in a situation like this was a very stupid thing to do, darkness over took me anyway.

* * *

It was morning when I woke up. It had stopped raining, and I was alone. _They must have left. Good riddance! _I was angry at myself for falling asleep in their presence, and swore I would never be so thoughtless again. I stood up from my spot on the floor and stretched, feeling slightly refreshed.

Annoyance washed over me as naruto came bursting through the door and hid behind me.

"Haruno-chan help me! Sasuke-teme is going to kill me!" bewilderment set in as Sasuke walked in covered in mud and a furious expression. I tried to fight the urge to laugh, but failed. I was laughing so hard I clutched my stomach in slight pain. I barely knew these people, but I was showing myself so carelessly in front of them. When I began to stop laughing, naruto was watching me with a victorious gleam in his eye. Sasuke just glared. Was glaring all he was capable of?

"See Sasuke-teme, she is human." Naruto grinned, and began running around the room as Sasuke chased him. Slightly affronted that I had showed such an emotion to complete strangers, I gathered my bread sack, and newly forged weapon, (the chair leg) I exited the house and began to make my way down the now muddy road. I didn't get far before I heard Naruto's voice behind me.

"No, wait, Haruno-chan! Which way are you going? We could accompany you!" I turned around ready to deny their company, but Sasuke was already ahead of me.

"Girls shouldn't travel alone. It's dangerous! If your destination is on our way, we could help you get there!" it was then that I took in their appearance. Naruto had bright shaggy blonde hair, and very captivating blue eyes he was also as tall as I was. Sasuke turned to look at me too. He was taller than me and had very pretty black hair. I pushed away the thought of wanting to touch it. His eyes though, his onyx eyes were stunning, I don't know how I found it in myself to look away. Their clothes were the same as mine, dirty and ragged.

I knew I shouldn't trust anyone, but something told me I could trust _them_. And it would be a lot safer to travel with two men instead of being by myself. It was only for two days. After that, I'd never have to see them again.

I nodded my head. Naruto beamed. Sasuke sighed. And we all walked down the road together.

I tried to ignore the feeling of Sasuke's eyes on me as we walked on.

"Hey, teme, I'm thirsty." Naruto seemed to enjoy making fun of his friend.

"What do you want me to do about it, dobe?" Sasuke and Naruto were walking in front of me, and I was beginning to lag behind. The sun was out, and the heat was beating down on us. _What I would give for a day like yesterday, no sun, all cloud cover. _

"Find us some water or something. Haruno-chan's probably thirsty too, aren't you Haruno-chan?" he turned his head slightly to look at me. Wiping the sweat from my brow I nodded, and looked at the ground.

"I'm not magic. There should be a town a couple miles ahead. You can hold out till then." I sighed, _a couple of miles? _It was going to take forever to get there, if I didn't die of dehydration first.

"Fine then. Haruno-chan, tell us about yourself to pass the time. I still wanna know your first name." he was walking backwards now, to face me. I gawked at him.

"I don't want to tell you my name. So, other than that, what do you want to know?" my speech was hard to understand from the heavy breaths I was taking.

"Hmm…where'd you come from?" I thought a little before answering.

"An orphanage in Argus village." My voice was low, signaling I didn't want to go any further on that issue. I glanced up at Sasuke, he had turned to look at me too, but when our eyes met, he turned to stare ahead again.

"Oh. Well, what's your favorite color?" I looked back at Naruto. He seemed unusually eager to hear anything about me.

"Red." Naruto looked confused at that. He saw my questioning expression.

"I would have thought your favorite color would be pink, since you dyed your hair pink." I stiffened at his remark. I hated when people talked about my hair. _It's natural you idiot! _

"I've never dyed my hair; this is its natural color." I glared at him. He laughed a bit, and apologized. My pink hair had caused me enough trouble in the past, and that had led me to cut off. It was now down to just below my shoulders, and was needing another good chop.

"There's the town. Can you see the tops of the buildings?" Sasuke told us, and sure enough, over the tops of some hills, I could see what seemed to be city buildings glowing orange from the sunlight.

I closed my eyes, relishing in dreams of water and food, soon to become reality. I heard naruto gasp, and I quickly opened my eyes again. I regretted it immediately. What I saw made me cup my hands to my mouth to keep me from screaming.

It wasn't the sun that made the buildings glow orange, but fire. Looking closer, I noticed army vehicles moving around the city.

"They're rounding up people to join the army. They burn the city to the ground and take anyone who's alive! Even children…." Naruto explained. A strange fierceness mixed with sorrow. I looked to Sasuke, who looked just as angry as Naruto.

"I'm going to help them." Naruto said, and took off towards the burning city. I didn't know what else to do, and I felt I should do something to, so I followed him. I felt something grab my arm before I could get far. It was Sasuke.

"Let go, he can't go in there by himself, he'll be killed!" I wrenched my arm from his grasp and took off. Sasuke kept up with me.

"He'll be fine, he can handle himself. You won't though, you can't do anything! Just stay here!" I looked at him, ran faster.

"What do you know? You don't know anything about me! I can at least try to help, and that's better than doing nothing!" I yelled. Sasuke looked angry, but didn't say anything else. We followed Naruto into the blazing city.

**A/N**: I really hope I did okay. I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter, but I hope it's good enough to want you to read the next one. The chapters will get much longer, so please continue reading. And please tell me what you think, reviews will keep me writing! Thanks for reading!!


	3. Chapter 3:Yakedo

**Chapter 3 – Yakedo-Burn**

The smoke was near unbearable. I couldn't breathe, let alone see where I was going. I couldn't hear much either, distant screams and loud booms echoing off of buildings blocked out any way to hear Naruto or Sasuke's voices.

I had lost Sasuke some time ago. One minute he was behind me, the next he wasn't. I hope he was having better luck finding Naruto than I was. I vaguely wondered that when they found each other, if they would come looking for me. Probably not, I wasn't exactly close to them, and they would be worrying about their own skins instead of some mangy girl they met on the road.

I was walking along the edge of the buildings now, holding one hand to the side of me, brushing against the structures, hoping they would lead me somewhere. My other hand out in front, so I wouldn't walk in to something. Fires were still burning, and rubble lined the streets. The situation seemed to get worse and worse. I started coughing, and paused where I stood.

Fighting the temptation to sit and wait for someone to help me, I pushed forward. Sitting and waiting for help was not why I rushed into this. Walking faster now, I recovered my role to find Naruto and now Sasuke.

It wasn't long before I heard the sirens. The ground started to shake, and I leaned against a wall to steady myself. I looked around wildly, to see what was causing this.

To my right, shapes began to emerge from the heavy smoke. I froze. They were army tanks! Either they were rounding people up, or set on the destruction of the city.

The tanks were huge, towering over me as they shot past. Panic set in as cannon-like guns emerged from the side of the machines. My eyes widened in fear. Explosions erupted from the guns as they aimed for the buildings above me. Debris began falling to the ground all around me.

If I stayed here I was going to be crushed! I ran in the direction I was previously headed, trying to dodge the falling stones. Gasping for clean air I pushed myself to go faster. The ground still shaking because of the enormous machines, and the added booms of their guns going off, began to disorient me, I was slightly tripping over my feet as I ran.

Suddenly, a sharp pain ripped through my leg, bringing me to the ground in a heap. I held back a scream, and tried to pick my self up again. I couldn't spare even a glance at my leg if I wanted to get out of here. Limping now, I still made my way to get away from the destruction. Sasuke had been right. I couldn't help anyone; I couldn't even help my self. I was going to die.

An explosion came from above me and I looked up to see a large piece of rubble falling towards me. _No! I don't want to die like this!_ I tried to get out of the way, but my leg had slowed me down. I wouldn't escape this time. I braced myself for the impact and waited.

And waited.

_It should have hit me by now… _I chanced a look up. And saw Sasuke standing above me. I looked for the large piece of rubble, but couldn't find it. Explosions were still erupting around us, but I could only gape at him.

"What…" I began, but Sasuke cut me off.

"What happened to your leg." He asked more out of curiosity than concern.

"I..don't…" It was then that I looked at it. It seemed like a large piece of glass had sliced its way into my calf. I grimaced in pain. Blood was oozing from it in quantity. I tried to put all my weight on my good leg, but with the ground still shaking I found it hard keep balance. Sasuke seemed to notice this and grabbed my arm to put around him to use as leverage.

"This is why you should have stayed behind. You are useless here." His voice was filled with frustration and annoyance.

I felt a sort of resentment for his comment, but our current predicament kept me from coming up with a witty retort.

Running and half -limping wasn't getting us any further from the mechanic monsters chasing us. It seemed as if the smoke was getting darker the farther we went, also. Sasuke seemed to notice this too, and pulled me into an archway of a collapsed building. We ducked behind the wall and waited for the tanks to pass by us. I could see fire raining down from the buildings surrounding us and pressed my back against the wall of the archway and sank down to sit and have a look at my leg.

It was still bleeding, and I was beginning to feel the effects of it. I grimaced in immense pain, and gritted my teeth. Sasuke stood above me and I could only see his outline, the smoke was so thick.

"You need to see a doctor for that." I glared at him, but I don't think he saw it.

"I just need to stop the bleeding for now. I'll worry about the rest later." Sasuke was about to say something else but I interrupted him.

"How did you save me?" I looked hard at him.

He stilled for a few moments, and bent down to look at my leg.

"That is something that you don't need to know." Suddenly he grabbed my knee and held it down tightly. I screamed in agony, and was about to push him away when another searing pain ripped through my leg a second time. He had pulled the glass shard out of my leg, and rather harshly too.

Tears were streaming down my face as I strained myself to calm down. He then gripped the end of my shirt and pulled a long piece of material off.

"What the heck are you doing?" I yelled, followed by a round of coughing. My voice was harsh and cracked now, my nails digging into my hands.

"I'm going to try and stop the bleeding. Unless you're fine with dying?" I gaped at him. This guy was going to kill me either way!

"Why did you rip my shirt? You could have used your own!" he looked at me angrily. I looked away from him; he was rather frightening in this atmosphere.

"I didn't injure my self. Why should I sacrifice my clothes for your mistake?" I gritted my teeth as he tightened the knot.

In the distance I could hear the mechanic tanks moving on, and I let out a sigh of quiet relief. Sasuke heard this and roughly picked me up by my arm and began walking in the opposite direction the tanks were heading. His hand was hot and calloused, I felt intensely uncomfortable with his skin on mine. I yanked my arm away from him and he stopped to turn and face me. I looked down at the ground, ashamed for some reason that I couldn't comprehend.

"We're not out of danger yet, so don't think of running off again, I may not be there to save you next time." I glared harshly at him, despite knowing that I should be grateful to him. His attitude towards me had offended me immensely and I turned on my heel and began to walk away from him once again, ignoring the voices in my head that I was being stupid and just walking into danger again. Dignity, that had no right to be there, had taken place in my mind and caused me to say something I immediately regretted.

"Well I never asked for your help! I don't need it, I'm capable of taking care of myself, and you don't even know anything about me to make the presumption that I would need saving!" The words were stupid and full of bravado. I continued walking away, not looking back. The black smoke was making my eyes water and my throat dry. Still limping from my leg injury I turned the corner and disappeared from his view.

The smoke was beginning to clear somewhat, so I limped off towards the east, still far enough from where the tanks were going, and no where near where Sasuke was. My only hope was for Naruto to be okay. He was a nice person.

Grayed, bombed-out buildings were everywhere, hollow and dead. I hated this place. I hated this war. What were we fighting for anyway?! The world wasn't supposed to be like this. People weren't supposed to be afraid, Children weren't supposed to be fighting suicidal battles! Parents...parents were supposed to stay with their children. Everything that had once seemed bright and loving disappeared before any of us knew what was happening!

I knew I'd reached the outside of the city once the buildings were replaced by burnt trees. The sky was still black with smoke, but there was a taste of fresh air, and I kept going. If I was in a forest, then if I kept going east, I could make it to the cafe' Yukino-san had told me about. _It shouldn't be much farther. _

My leg was still severely injured; maybe when I got there, I would be able to get medicine. It was a small chance but it was all I needed to push forward.

~*~

"_Sakura, try hard, okay?" _At least, I think she used to tell me that. I was put in the orphanage when I was four, so I don't remember a whole lot about my life before my parents died. I just remember her smile, she looked really pretty when she smiled, but it was never a real smile. It just had this feeling of being fake, and I hated it.

She told me to try hard, but when the time came for her to try to get better, she gave up much too easily. Father followed soon afterwards. It seemed like life wanted me to suffer from the start.

It was raining again when I reached the end of the forest. The air now had the scent of smoke and rainfall. A stone fence went along the edge of the forest; I climbed over it, watching out for my leg. Wet strands of pink hair clung to my face as I limped closer to what seemed to be a town in the distance.

"_Could this be the town where the café' is at? I really hope so." _The town appeared to be small. Stone structures with thatched roofs made it seem comfy and inviting. Once I entered the village I began to receive strange looks. I couldn't blame them; I must have looked a mess. My stomach growled loudly when I caught the aroma of baked bread coming from a building to my right.

Hoping it was the café' I went inside. It was dark inside; candles were lit at every table to help lighten the place. I reached the counter and looked around. I couldn't see anybody.

"Hello?" Somebody must be here, I can smell food cooking.

"We're closed!" a voiced answered me from behind the counter. A tall middle aged looking man with a shaved head came around the corner.

"I…I..er, umm...do you know a 'Yukino-san'?" I asked the man apprehensively. The man's eyes widened marginally.

"I do. My sister. She send you here?" He asked gruffly. He looked me up and down, giving me a look of pity.

"Yes. She said you could give me a job?" He sighed, and shook his head. My heart sank, if I couldn't work here, where would I go?

"I can't hire you missy. I barely make enough to keep this place afloat." He looked at me again, pity swirling in his eyes.

"Here's what I can do, you look like you've been through hell, so I'm gonna take you to see Tsunade. She can fix you right up. Then, if you can't find a place to stay, I'll let you stay here. You got to earn your weight though, so don't expect an easy day." I gaped at him. I could stay here?

The man came around from the corner and kneeled down to sum up the damage to my leg. Blood had seeped through the improvised bandage and my leg looked like it began to swell.

"What have you been doin' missy?" He asked as he stood up. He gave me a look disbelief and suspicion.

"I got caught up in a military raid awhile back." I gave him a blank stare, hoping that the questions would end at that.

"Hmm. You were lucky to make it this far with an injury like that one. What's your name?"

"Haruno." I stated immediately.

"No no, if you're going to be staying with me I get to know your full name, not just your surname." I stared wide eyed at him. I really disliked giving people I hardly knew my real name. I sucked in my stubbornness and relinquished my name.

"It's Sakura." He grinned at me then, and chuckled to himself.

"What?" I asked indignantly. Was he making fun of my name?

"Well Sakura just seems to be a bit too feminine for a girl like you. I think I'll stick with Haruno-san then." I frowned. I wasn't _that _boyish was I?

"My name's Jiro. Well, let's get you to Tsunade before you pass out from blood loss." He had spoken his words a little too lat e though, I was already on the floor in a heavy sleep.

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****A/N: **I'm sorry I always make it short, and there are probably lots of mistakes, but I don't have a beta. Is there any one willing to be one for me? Updates most likely won't be very often, I might not continue with this story. I'm having just a bit of trouble getting it out of me. Sorry the chapter took so long.

******Another thing you may be wondering, Sakura is a little OOC at the moment, but given her circumstances and troubles, I think her character would be altered a bit. Thank you for reading.

**Please review if you want me to continue!!! I need it!!!**


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